How do you make a descriptive and narrative writing?

To make a good writing including

descriptive and narrative parts. In general, your papers need to have correct grammar &
punctuation, neat and easy to read with clear sections and good organization. But these are
generic, and any paper has it, to be more specific you need a well-organized strategy. There are
many strategies, but the best one for your writing is one that corresponds to the story you want to
make.

Strategies for a descriptive writing

 Writing with sensory details (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste) to bring the reader into
the world you are making and let imagination run wild.
 Personification (giving human characteristics to something nonhuman) to bring life to
objects.
 Comparisons (simile and metaphor) to compare two things and let the reader connect
with the writing and better explain.
 Precise use of adjectives (very exact, sharply explained) to make the writing be of higher
quality.

Examples
 Writing with sensory details
o “It wasn't a dark game, but it wasn't a bright one either - the lights were about
half, like dusk.” (Sight, Ender’s game)
 Projects the level of brightness in the game as giving off a half, in-
between, neither bright nor dark.
o “The gentle gusts of wind hinted a sweet fruity scent that boasted the fragrance of
the garden.” (Smell, Me)
 Describes the sweet smell of the flowers and earth in the garden.

 Personification
o “Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a
ghastly creak, and comes to rest…” (The Great Gatsby)
 Describes the motion of the cars driving through the place.
o “The Cave howled, a lone beast in the wild longing for company.” (Me)
 Describes how the wind passing through the cave makes a howling noise
that feels empty and dull, also hinting the quietness of the cave.

 Comparisons
o “now I was looking … through Daisy's eyes. It is invariably saddening to look
through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of
adjustment.” (Metaphor, The Great Gatsby)
 Nick shows his view of events in terms of sight imagery.
o “She lighted my world” (Metaphor, Me)
 This figure of speech shows that this girl ‘lighted up my world’ and made
my life happier and better.
o “The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on
which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon.
 They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they
had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” (Simile, The
Great Gatsby)
 Jordan and Daisy describe movement. The imagery here describes the two
figures so light that they appear to be floating which supports the idea that
the characters lead restless, unhappy, and aimless lives.
o “She bloomed like a flower” (Simile, Me)
 This simile portrays this girl, who is opening up and ‘blossoming’ being
compared to a flower because of how she opened up and how a flower
blossoms and opens up.

 Precise use of adjectives

o “When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” (Gleam,
The Great Gatsby)
 Myrtle’s husband has a gleam of hope in his eyes when he sees Tom and
thinks that he will sell him his car. It means to shine, glow, sparkle, or
glimmer.
o “The Void, an immeasurably large, infinitesimal space” (Me)
 This sentence describes ‘the void’ as a space that is infinitely big and
infinitely small, it is immeasurable.

 Descriptive Writing Task (Busy market prompt)

o The sun shines bright, the air is thick with the smell of spices and sweat. Bustling
with activity, the ever so vibrant and colorful marketplace is quite a place to
behold. It is indeed a space blooming with commerce. A place where people come
to buy and sell, goods and services. Welcome to the DT-M (Diverse Traditional
Marketplace). Walking through paths that spread out like a tree, getting smaller
and harder to walk around the small nook and crannies squeezing in between
stores and people, brushing, and sliding past people like swimming against waves
of people. At last, we finally arrive and surely is there a sight to behold. The most
popular store on the block, a line as far as the eye can see, and a smell of
something sweet and fruity lingering and floating around. It’s a candy stall. The
marketplace, teeming with clatter and chatter, anyone can assuredly say it’s meant
for extroverted people. Filled with different sellers trying to entice the buyers to
buy their products and customers trying to negotiate the prices to their advantage.
Let us venture on deeper into the maze of stalls with a sweet taste in our mouth.
The next store that comes across catching the eyes of unsuspecting passer is a stall
that sells meat lined up on a stick, commonly known as ‘Satay’. Made with
Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Venison, or Rabbit, ‘Satay’ is a popular traditional
food that can make anyone drool. As per usual, there is a large crowd setting their
gaze on the ever so blowing flame that explodes in bursts of power caused by the
smooth yet erratic movement of the cooker. The cook can proudly that the crowd
all have their mouths full of saliva, watching the skewered meat's fat dripping and
sizzling in the fire, giving off a strong smoky aroma with a hint of spice. Moving
on from this stall, with a fully salivated mouth like a bowl filled to the brim we
 march on the path getting increasingly larger and closer to the end. Walking down
the path getting larger by the second and at last, we reach the end.

Strategies for a narrative writing

 Show don’t tell (technique to use words, subtext, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather
than exposition, summarization, and description) to allow the reader to experience the
story through actions rather than through the author.
 Using dialogue effectively (Embed emotion, tension, suspense, and leave clues for the
reader) to drive a story's plot forward, to bring the reader closer to its climax and,
ultimately its conclusion.
 Structural approach (Having parts divided into sections distinctly and smooth transitions
including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) to help the
reader understand what is happening
o Initial focus
o Flashback
o Dialogue

Examples
 Show don’t tell
o “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that
you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the
whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an
irresistible prejudice I your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to
be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and
assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you
hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished–and I was looking at an
elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of
speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got
a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.” (The Great Gatsby)
 This part of the book is when Nick met Gatsby and shows his first
impressions of him. Instead of just downright stating his physical
features, he shows the qualities of his smile. He conveys the idea that
Gatsby is a man who seeks to please and is specific in his word choice, but
he does so with such elegance as to leave the reader with the impression.
o “His hand landed on my shoulder, hairs stood on end, chills fell down my spine,
goosebumps started popping out, I was shivering.”
 In the passage instead of just saying ‘I was scared when he put his hand on
my shoulder’, it tries to describe how it feels.

 Using dialogue effectively

o “There’s another little thing,” he said uncertainly, and hesitated.  “Would you
rather put it off for a few days?” I asked. “Oh, it isn’t about that. At least —” He
fumbled with a series of beginnings. “Why, I thought — why, look here, old sport,
you don’t make much money, do you?” “Not very much.” This seemed to
reassure him and he continued more confidently. “I thought you didn’t, if you’ll
pardon my — you see, I carry on a little business on the side, a little side line, if
 you understand. And I thought that if you don’t make very much — You’re selling
bonds, aren’t you, old sport?” “Trying to.”
 Here, it is shown that Gatsby is tripping over his own words and
interrupting himself, as marked by the -dashes. It reflects his nervousness
and awkwardness, also imitation of actual speech. Gatsby stumbles when
speaking spontaneously, just as real people frequently do. This gives us a
glimpse into his self-doubt because despite his best efforts, neither he nor
his speech are polished and flawless. This dialogue shows how to make
dialogue sound natural.
o “Hey! What’s Name?” exclaimed Liu Feng, a foreign transfer student trying to
socialize with a student next to him. “What, are you talking to me?” said, a
confused Nick. “Yes, talking to!”
 From this short text it can be deduced that the foreign student is still
learning the language as it is shown that he speaks incompletely, without
any adjectives.

 Structural approach
o Jeffrey becomes an orphan, and is forced to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle
Dan. He can no longer stand living with them and runs away. (Exposition,
Maniac Magee)
o Jeffree performs many impressive feats and earns the name “Maniac”. (Rising
Action, Maniac Magee)
o Maniac bounces between East End and West End trying to find a place to call
home. (Conflict, Maniac Magee)
o Maniac blurs the lines between black and whites by bringing Mars Bar to the
McNab’s home. (Climax, Maniac Magee)
o Maniac is disappointed by the behavior in Two Mills and is upset that he can’t fix
the problems himself; he is alone and unsure about the future. (Falling Action,
Maniac Magee)
o Maniac befriends Mars Bar and moves back to the one place he feels truly at
home – with the Beale family. (Resolution, Maniac Magee)

o Barry is hungry in his cottage. (Exposition, Me)

o He went venturing in the woods in search of food. (Rising Action, Me)
o He comes in contact with a wolf pack. (Conflict, Me)
o Barry fights the alpha wolf, wins, and becomes the alpha of the wolfpack.
(Climax, Me)
o The wolves embarrassingly direct Barry off with plenty of meat and berries after
getting dominated by him. (Falling Action, Me)
o Barry’s stomach is full, and he is resting in his cottage sleeping soundly.
(Resolution, Me)

 Initial Focus
o The start point and opening of the story
 Flashback
o To show readers a scene that happened in the past, a flashback interrupts that
sequence of events. Often, a trigger is required to start a flashback. A physical
object that a character comes across in the story which triggers a particular
memory.

 Dialogue
o A story told by two or more characters through speech. A conversation should
accomplish multiple goals at once, not just convey information. It ought to
establish the setting, move the plot along, shed light on each character, and hint at
more dramatic developments to come.

 Narrative Writing Task (Character exploring a new place prompt)

o In a small cottage located in the woods lived a family of two, a father and son.
“Dad, when am I gonna get old enough to join The Hunt?” a cheerful Higgin
asked. “Only when you can fight as good as me, son.” “But why? I don’t want to
fight, can’t we all just be friends?” “I wish it was that easy, but the world is harsh
son”. Still dumb and naïve, a young Higgin had not been out and was not allowed,
to in the woods as far as the perimeter. A small trench that about as long and wide
as a foot, that made by his father. And so, he could not have possibly known
about the dangers of The Woods. At first glance people would say it looked just
like any normal forest. Indeed, it is similar, a colorful bright place in the morning.
But after the sun had settled and light stopped flowing in, it was a dark and
dangerous place that made people who ‘knew’ stay within their perimeter and
close off any contact outside. No one knows what truly lurked outside, but it was
better to not know and be safe than curious, sorry, and dead. “Dad I’m going out
to play!” “Ok! Just make sure to be back in 8:30”. “Higgin! It’s 8:30” said dad.
“Yeah, I’m coming” As Higgin was about to go back, he slipped on the mud
landing on his elbows, spraying mud everywhere behind him in the direction of
the perimeter, causing a small section of the trench to be filled with mud. Higgin
didn’t realize what he had done and got up and went inside. “It’s already nine!”
dad panicked, “Make sure to close the curtains next to you Higgin!” hollered dad,
while he was busy with all the other windows. “I’m on it!” Higgin hollered back.
Higgin rose up from the couch he was previously laying down comfortably in and
stood up and turned to the window reaching for the curtains. “Dad?” a scared
Higgin asked. “Yeah?” “There’s s-something, or some-one looking at m-me ”. He
was unable to move. At that moment he hurriedly turned for his son. But there
was no-one on the couch and the wind was blowing in from the window.
“Higgin!”.